[Platt] Naturally there will be a transition phase before all schools become private.
[Arlo] So, let's think beyond that for a moment. All schools are now private. We have abolished school taxes. What happens to people who can't afford good schools? What happens to people who can't afford school at all? [Platt] Of course not, no more so than they are today. Quality will vary as always. [Arlo] And which schools will have better Quality? The ones attended by the wealthy or the ones attended by the poor? Are you denying that in this system the schools will stratify according to class? How not? [Arlo previously] What will happen is obvious, schools will congregate along class-lines. Poor families that can't afford good schools will get crappy second rate ones (its all they will be able to afford). Rich kids will get the best education. [Platt] Giving parents a voucher and a choice, schools will compete for students, raising quality. [Arlo] So you favor forcing private schools to accept vouchers? Would this be on a lottery system? Would schools be able to choose who they accept? Would schools be able to deny low-income families? Non-whites? [Platt] I never claimed all schools would be, or should be, equal. But they would be better overall than they are today due to competition. [Arlo] Japan's and Finland's public schools arguably provide among the best education available in the world. And they are public schools. Why is this? At least in the present system we are striving to provide all our children with comparable quality educations. We may fail at times, and we should do better, but it is a worthwhile goal. Stratifying education among class lines, so that rich kids get a better education than poor kids, and accepting this as natural, is just sad. [Platt] Public schools today aren't equal in quality education. In fact, most public schools do a lousy job. So what's your point? [Arlo] Most public schools do a great job. There is room for improvement. And where there in inequality our goal should be to bring underachieving schools to the same standard as successful schools. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
